Greater New Orleans

Freshly roasted coffee beans are cooled before packaging at New Orleans Coffee Exchange in Kenner, Monday, February 24, 2014. With a drought in Brazil, coffee prices are continuing to rise. At Orleans Coffee Exchange roasts coffee for local independent coffee shops and restaurants, they say they're not expecting a big impact just yet because they have prices locked in.
(Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)

The price of a latte at Starbucks won't be increasing any time soon despite rising coffee bean commodity prices, the coffee giant's Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz told Fox Business on Tuesday (March 11).

In an interview on the business-focused TV network, Schultz said Starbucks has a year of locked-in prices through its physical inventory and coffee bean contracts. Coffee prices recently hit $2 per pound, compared to $1.06 in November. The world's largest coffee producing country, Brazil, has struggled with a crop-damaging drought.

"I suspect coffee prices might go up even higher," Schultz said. "We will anticipate that and most importantly, we can manage through it. We do not have any intention at this time to raise prices. We can manage this. We have over a year's worth of protection. I suspect that most of our competitors are short and we are in a much better position than they are."